Welcome Home, Our Three Drivers!

Welcome home Jalal Ahmed!
How are you, Faiz Salim?
What's up, Ibrahim Iddi?

Welcome home our fellow Kenyans
Accept our sympathies
for the horrific ordeals you underwent
As the saying goes
Good things come out of perseverence
And joy follows tribulations
All over the world there is jubilation
Wherever Kenyans are found
We see faces full of celebration
Instead of sadness
We see smiles all around

Today, let us all heave a sigh of relief
Let us throw back our heads in laughter
Let us whistle and scream out our ululations
I know that tonight
In Sarigoi and Mwembe Kuku
Majengo Sidiria and Ngomeni
Kongowea and Changamwe
All over the city of Mombasa
Women and Men
Old and young
Are jumping up and down
As they dance to the rhythms
of the Kirumbizi and Chakacha

We received the breaking news
From the Gulf
Telling us that
our compatriots wer now free
After being confined
for more than a month
in the bowels of Iraq


Hey, take a look at sister Samira

Today she is laughing and celebrating
Instead of sobbing with anxiety

Come on, take a glance at Ms. Hidaya

Today she is grateful
Smiling from ear to ear
Instead of being
wracked by and wrapped up in fear


And please take a good look at Aisha

Today she is almost fainting from joy
Instead of tossing and turning
Sleepless with worry

Kenyans in Kenya
and Kenyans around the world
Are thankful to
the diplomats, the journalists
the preachers and the imams
and the activists around the world
who did the utmost to plead
with the hostage takers
not to behead our three drivers hired in Kuwait
I join my fellow compatriots
In welcoming home and expressing sympathy
My fellow Kenyans and fellow Mombasa residents
Over here in Montreal I do not have much to say
Except to send a message to welcome home
Our three drivers


Onyango Oloo
in the province of Quebec
Wednesday,
September First, 2004